Frank Meola of Meola Demoliton and House Cleanout takes apart one of the mobile homes being removed from the Long Beach Island Trailer Park. / Peter Ackerman/Staff Photographer

Since superstorm Sandy ravaged the area, Frank Meola and the rest of the crew of Meola Demolition and House Cleanout have had little time to see their families and enjoy their lives.

“We have been going seven days a week, 14 hours a day to help with the cleanup,” said Meola, who has owned the company for 18 years. “Most of the people working down here are doing their best to help clean up the area.”

The usually peaceful silence of winter on Long Beach Island has been broken by the sounds of hammers, cranes and chainsaws rebuilding the battered region.

Earlier this week, Meola and his crews were busy removing trailers from the Long Beach Island Trailer Park. Earlier this month, the owners of the park, which opened in 1953 and featured 142 mobile homes, announced they were closing it, citing the cost-prohibitive cleanup. Sandy wiped out the park's electrical, water and sewer systems.

“Words can’t describe what we have seen,” the 42-year-old Meola said, pausing while looking at the devastation the storm caused in the park.

Located at the southern tip of Long Beach Island, the trailer park has been described as a “microcosm of America.”

“You’re trying to help everyone out and be fair with everybody,” said Meola, who lives in Little Egg Harbor. “Most of the people in the trailer park are hard working people, average people. We are trying to come in and do a honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.”

For Meola, being part of the cleanup is special.

“You are here to help everyone out,” he said. “I used to work at The Ketch (A bar and restaurant in Beach Haven) and to see this area like this was hard. We just want to get it back to what it was.”